Works Cited:

Works Cited

Blackwood, Gary L. Life in a Medieval Castle. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2000. Print.

Castles. ABC CILO, 2011. Web. 12 May 2011.

"Daily Life Through History Online." Web.

Eastwood, Kay. Life in a Castle. New York: Crabtree Pub., 2004. Print.

Singman, Jeffrey L. "The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series — Www.praeger.com." Home — Greenwood Publishing Group — Www.praeger.com. Greenwood Press, 2002. Web. 13 May 2011. <http://www.praeger.com/catalog/series/The Greenwood Press Daily Life Through History Series.aspx>.

Steele, Philip. Castles. New York: Kingfisher, 1995. Print.

Web.

How was life in Medieval Europe different than life today?

What was your favorite topic you learned about on my blog?

How could I make my blog more exciting?

What was home life usually like in a Medieval castle?

          Life for children that lived in castles was very different. For example, the children often got married very young! Sometimes girls would marry as young as twelve years old and boys would marry as young as seventeen years old! That isn’t usually how it works these days!

         Early castles were not considered comfortable until the 1200s' this is when the castles began to get new technology. Castles began to have heat and other well-furnished items. For entertainment children would listen to music either sung or played by an instrument. They would also make pottery, play chess, and embroider things. As you can see, this is a little different than what we do for entertainment today! With the new technology we have, our entertainment often consist things like T.V., video games, texting, etc.
          Speaking of technology, before the 1200s' most castles didn't even have running water! Gross! Anybody agree?! The castles were often dirty and some even had rats! Even worse! Hopefully you got a glimpse of what life was like in a Medieval castle! It's obviously a lot different than what we're used to!

How did castles affect civilian life?

          The castles of Medieval Europe were actually helpful to the civilizations. In time of war they acted as a refuge (shelter providing safety) for the people. Because castles were used to protect people, they were often built near border regions. This is because many raids (attacks) occurred near the borders. Scary! As you can see castles were a very important part of warfare! In fact, they were even used for organizing business for feudal lords (important lords). That isn't all, castles also housed people, the people helped make up the castles residency!
           Although the castles were used to protect people during warfare, the people also had to pay more taxes. This is because the castles were so expensive to build. Although with the help of the people, they were able to build new castles and protect more people!

What did Medieval castles look like?

          Medieval castles were made of wood at first but were later built with stone. This is for many reasons. They were more sturdy than wooden castles, they were more sophisticated, and they didn't catch fire as easily. Although stone castles had better quality, they also costed a lot more to build! This is because the stone had to be imported from very far away, unlike the wood needed to build a wooden castle.

          Besides the material the castles were made of, their actual look wasn't much different. Most of the castles you see have the same features. For example, they both have moats, drawbridges, and small windows for shooting arrows through. These things naturally give castles that "common castle" look, even though they are different castles!

         You can easily identify castles! Especially when you consider each part of the castle! A castle has many different rooms. Some have more than others, but a typical castle includes a dungeon (like a cell), the moat (a deep and wide ditch filled with water) surrounding the castle, a drawbridge (a walk way to get across the moat), the inner baily (the inner wall), and the outer baily (the outer wall). Hopefully now you can tell what kind of rooms a typical castle has!

How did people defend the castle?

          Defending the Castles of Medieval Europe was critical! Because safety was so important, they added many structures that would later help them defend their castles in times of war. For example, when building the castle they made the top jagged, not just for the look, although it did look cool! It actually allowed them to shoot arrows down on the enemies below! The same goes for the walls of the castle. The castles often had tiny windows in the side of the walls. This is so that they were able to shoot arrows through the holes at their enemies without being too exposed. Also, by making the corners of the castle rounded, knights defending the castle were able to see around them better. These things are just some of the small, yet crucial details added for the protection of the castle!

          Some of the larger steps taken to defend the castle include things like building moats, drawbridges, and even new stone castles! These things were a big part of keeping the castle safe. For example, the moats, which a path of water that flows around the outside of the castle kept the enemies from reaching the castle. They were unable to teach the castle because the moat was filled with the mud, twigs, and sticks! Gross! I don't think I'd cross the moat either! Anyway! Due to the unclean water and the occasional alligators (just kidding, they didn't use alligators!), attackers couldn't get in! In fact the only way to enter the castle was through the drawbridge! This entrance, of course was closely monitored by guards. Therefore, no enemies would have a chance to get in!

How were the castles built?

          Castles were usually either built from wood or stone, however, stone was more expensive because it had to be imported form very far away. Building the castles took many men. It was like a whole army of men working on just one castle! This is because they took so long to build. I'm not sure I would want to work on a Medieval castle! In fact, because of the lengthy process, castles were often finished improperly!
          When building, they used many tools. For example, they used things like crowbars, a stone cutter’s pickax, shovels, ropes, saws, and many other tools. Although the job did take a long time, the tools they used helped them get the job done a little faster. However, using the tools was also hard work, but it did make things more efficient.
           When building first began, trenches were built to form the wall foundation, this is how they started to build the castles. Once the trenches were built, they kept building the walls up. This took time and hard work, especially when the castle was being built with stone! Each and every stone had to be carefully lifted. This was because the stones were too heavy to lift by hand. Inorder to lift the stone, workers had to tie ropes around it so that multiple men could lift it together, if just one person tried to lift it, it would be nearly impossible!
          When building a castle, you had to take into consideration, not only the way the castle looked and it's durability, but how to build the castle so that it was easier to defend as well! That's a lot to think about when building a castle!